For many reasons, the Western world has become aware of and,
hopefully, more sensitive to Arabic culture. As a result, graphic
communicators in the West are being asked to add insight into
Arabic culture and graphic communication to their creative palettes.
This, however, is clearly easier said than done. Creating
design that will perform acceptably in the Arabic community
takes a lot more than adding a new suite of fonts to your hard
drive. It also takes the realization that the foundation of Arabic
graphic communication is very different from that in the West,
and designers must adjust accordingly.
ARABIC TYPOGRAPHY’S ROOTS
Arabic belongs to the group of Semitic languages and can be
traced back to the Nabataean script, which dates from the third
century. It was not until the seventh century, however, that
the written word—and thus calligraphy—became important.
Although the tribes of Arabia had a strong love of language, especially
poetry, this was based on a verbal tradition passed from generation
to generation.
At first, the written word was the province of few and culturally
unimportant. The need to reconcile the contradiction
between the Arab fascination with the beauty of the spoken word
on the one hand, and the limitations of existing Arabic scripts on
the other, played a positive role in the development of Arabic calligraphy
as an art form.
EMPLOYING A DETAILED KNOWLEDGE OF GEOMETRY, THE 10TH-CENTURY CALLIGRAPHER
ABU ALI MUHAMMAD IBN MUQLAH CONSOLIDATED AND SYSTEMATIZED MAJOR ARABIC CURSIVE
STYLES, PRODUCING A COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM OF RULES. HE REDESIGNED LETTERFORMS
USING THREE STANDARD UNITS: THE RHOMBIC DOT, THE ALIF AND THE CIRCLE. THE
STANDARD ALIF (PHONETICALLY EQUIVALENT TO “A” IN THE LATIN ALPHABET) WAS A VERTICAL
STROKE MEASURING A SPECIFIC NUMBER OF RHOMBIC DOTS—SIX TO EIGHT, DEPENDING
ON STYLE. THE STANDARD CIRCLE HAD A RADIUS EQUAL TO THE HEIGHT OF THE ALIF.
LATER CALLIGRAPHERS PERFECTED AND BEAUTIFIED THE APPLICATION OF IBN MUQLAH’S
GEOMETRIC SYSTEM.
The word calligraphy comes from Greek and is a combination of
two words—kallos, meaning “beauty,” and graphia, meaning “writing.”
Arabic type design owes nearly everything to its heritage of
calligraphy and has developed along totally different lines from
Latin forms. Arabic typography, however, should not be confused
with calligraphy, because even the best-controlled human hand
does not write like a machine.
CONTEMPLATING ARABIC
The Arabic language is used in 23 countries and is spoken by nearly
300 million people. Advertisers contemplating translation into
Arabic often ask whether Arabic is one language or several. While
there are dialect differences between Arab states and between
regions, in terms of the written word Arabic can be regarded as
one language. All educated people throughout the Arab world
readily understand the classical Arabic used in writing. Modern
Arabic, with occasional regional variations, is used by newspapers
and broadcasting networks in all the Arab states.
Between the language of classical texts and the spoken word
lies what has become known in the West as Modern Literary
Arabic or MLA . MLA is the ideal medium for conveying
advertising messages.
BRANDING IN THE MIDDLE EAST
As we all know, a brand is a symbolic embodiment of a company,
product or service. Typically, it includes a name, logotype and
other visual elements. It represents the aspirations and expectations
of both brand owner and consumers in relation to that company,
product or service.
MODERN LITERARY ARABIC HAS HELPED STANDARDIZE MEANINGS IN WRITTEN LANGUAGE,
BUT IN BRANDING IT IS STILL CRITICAL TO UNDERSTAND THE NUANCES OF ARABIC.
REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN PRODUCT PREFERENCES, WORD USAGE AND EVEN PRONUNCIATION
HAVE MARKETING IMPLICATIONS. AL DANAH MOUASSAL IS A BRAND OF TOBACCO
WITH VARIOUS FRUIT FLAVORS. TOP IMAGE: IN EGYPT THE WORD FOR STRAWBERRY IS PRONOUNCED
“FARAWLA” WHILE IN LEBANON IT IS PRONOUNCED “FRAISE.” LOWER IMAGE: THIS
VERSION WAS TARGETED FOR THE SAUDI MARKET (A PEACH IS SHOWN WHILE THE WRITING
SAYS “PLUM MOUASSAL”). IN AN ARABIC DICTIONARY (AL-MAWRID) THE DEFINITION OF THE
WORD FOR PEACH IS BOTH PEACH AND PLUM, WHILE THE DEFINITION OF PLUM IS SIMPLY
PLUM. COMPANIES CREATING ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS MUST MASTER SUCH DETAILS.
Branding in the Middle East is not new. From the beginning
of the oil boom in the late 1960s and early 1970s, both multinational
and local companies sought to establish their brand identities
within the region. As demand for bilingual materials emerged,
Arabic branding developed in Lebanon—at that time the bridge
between the Western and Arab worlds. The bilingual Holiday Inn
logo is a good example of that era.
After war broke out in Lebanon in 1975, most multinational
companies moved away, and the UAE, especially Dubai, replaced
Beirut as the commercial and creative center of the Middle East.
Most media and advertising agencies now have their head offices
in Dubai. The bilingual Spinneys logo is a good example of
logotype conversions of the early 1980s.
A LATIN CONVERSION
Identifying a world-famous franchised shopping center, the logo
for Spinneys is a classic example of converting Latin into Arabic.
Indeed, it is one of the earliest known Latin-to-Arabic logotype
conversions and can be considered a pioneering example of its kind.
Designed in the early ’80s, before it was fashionable or necessary
to undertake such conversions, it had no preexisting visual
references to build upon. The design is a solid representation of
Arabic culture. The variation of the strokes, the slant of the angle
and the roundness of the letter curves all echo the Latin logo, following
a calligraphic style reminiscent of traditional Kufic. Kashidas
(strokes which extend the links between letterforms) are
used to elongate the Arabic logotype to match the Latin without
destroying visual harmony or disturbing the links between letters.
The result is a perfect example of legibility, style and balance.
For an array of reasons, the 21st-century world of business and
communication relies more and more on the cross-hybridization
of Latin and Arabic graphic design approaches. Without proper
knowledge, however, creative campaigns and endeavors (not to
mention the money invested for such efforts) can easily fail. Many
pitfalls await the unwary.
THE HOLIDAY INN LOGO IS A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF THE BILINGUAL APPROACH TO BRANDING
WIDELY ADOPTED IN THE MIDDLE EAST DURING THE OIL BOOM OF THE 60’S AND 70’S.
5. THE SPINNEYS LOGO ILLUSTRATES THE NEXT PHASE OF BILINGUAL BRANDING IN THE
1980’S AND IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST (AND BEST) LATIN-TO-ARABIC CONVERSIONS.
A TYPOGRAPHIC BLEND:
ARABIC TRADITION & MODERN TECHNOLOGY
In the wake of 9/11, the Arab world needed an international media
outlet that could best serve the community, but without discounting
the international community. As the world’s first Arab news
channel—Al Arabiya—prepared to launch, much consideration
was put into the network’s corporate identity. The real challenge
was to incorporate graphic aspects of Western news culture without,
as most Arabs saw it, the biased content that plagued much of
Western news coverage.
The network required an overall design sensibility that accommodated
all facets of reporting the news, both in print and
through the low-resolution medium of television. Al Arabiya
needed more than just a logo; it needed an entire typeface that
could be used in all capacities of reporting the news, from maps,
tables and graphs to scrolling breaking news.
After a great deal of research and testing, both the final logotype
and the unique Arabic typeface incorporated traditional
aspects of Arabic typography with graphic design elements
of the contemporary global community. From a typographical
point of view, this was accomplished through a geometric style
that adhered to the dimensions found in Arabic calligraphy, but
which also took into account the limitations of televised images.
The added modernity came to exemplify how new Arabic typefaces
can be created in the context of the modern world, enjoying
an up-to-date look and high technical quality without forfeiting a
strong link to traditional culture.
The typeface had to have relatively short ascenders and
descenders since it was to sit within graphic layouts built to narrow
strips of color. More than one weight of the font had to
be developed since the aim was to enable a hierarchy of usage.
Achieving proper alignment of the Arabic text was another challenge,
since the electronic equipment used in the newsroom did
not fully support the Arabic language.
A NAME CHANGE FOR THE BETTER
When Rainbow Quality Milk’s initial market survey was conducted,
it was discovered that transliterating its logo into the
exact pronunciation of “rainbow” in Arabic would not be helpful.
Consumers, inspired by the rainbow visual on the package,
were calling it Abou Kaouss, which means rainbow in Arabic. It was
determined that Abou Kaouss would be used for the Arabic corporate
identity.
THE THREE IMAGES ABOVE TELL A CAUTIONARY TALE OF HOW POOR UNDERSTANDING OF
ARABIC LETTERFORMS CAN CREATE MARKETING CHAOS. IN EARLY FEBRUARY 2006 VIRGIN
ATLANTIC PLACED AN AD ANNOUNCING ITS DUBAI ROUTE. IN A FULL-COLOR SPREAD (TOP),
THE OVERALL DESIGN WAS MEANT TO READ “SHORTLY” IN ARABIC, PRONOUNCED “KARIBAN.”
BY NOT USING THE ACCENTS ABOVE THE FINAL LETTER ALEPH, IT ACTUALLY READ
“KARIBA”—NOT ONLY WAS THE TYPOGRAPHY POOR, THE AD ALSO COMMITTED A GRAMMATICAL
ERROR. TWO DAYS LATER VIRGIN PLACED A SECOND AD ANNOUNCING THE SAME ROUTE
... YET BIZARRELY CHANGED THE CHARACTER DESIGN OF QAF (ON THE RIGHT) TO A HA WITH
TWO DOTS ABOVE, CREATING A CHARACTER UNKNOWN IN ARABIC. THE WORD “SHORTLY” IS
SET AT (RIGHT) IN A POPULAR TYPEFACE TO SHOW THE CORRECT LETTERFORMS.
This did not harm the brand. On the contrary, it gave consumers
security, because it suggests that the makers of Abou Kaouss
products understand their needs and culture. The resulting product
logo demonstrates clean-cut typography and respect for
the Arabic rules of typeface design. Visually, the two logos work
together perfectly.
NEW PATTERNS FOR A CONTEMPORARY LOGO
When developing brand identities for the Middle East and adding
Arabic elements to any logo, it was once common to use an Arabic
or Islamic pattern reference and adapt visuals from those patterns.
Unfortunately, most of the time this created something of a religious
look. In the case of the Oasis Beach Hotel and the Jebel Ali
Hotel and Golf Resort, the designers borrowed a concept directly
from the Arabic calligraphy. The outcome confirmed that
traditional calligraphy could be used to create visual signifiers.
The seahorse and peacock logos have aspects of Arabic calligraphy
enriched by rhombic dots, but cannot actually be read. They
are simply abstractions using a cultural technique representing a
unique visual … all to achieve the required aims.
Arabic is an international language with a long history. Arabic
typography has its origins in traditional calligraphy and has developed
quite differently from Latin forms. The 21st century has seen
an undeniable rise in global awareness of Arab cultures. Because
designers from all over the world are now working with both
Latin and Arabic typography, there is rising demand for sympathetic
letterforms that have an inherent visual harmony. Designing
in Arabic can yield innovative, beautiful and successful results
… but non-Arabic speaking designers need to appreciate the evolution
of Arabic typography and understand and respect the cultural
nuances of the language.
TOP: READING “ARABIC CALLIGRAPHY THROUGH THE
AGES,” THIS TRADITIONAL CALLIGRAPHIC WORK IN THE
“THULUTH” STYLE WAS CREATED BY THE AUTHOR, MOURAD
BOUTROS.
WEB-EXCLUSIVE CONTENT!
